Coal Chamber’s long awaited sophomore release, Chamber Music, had its share of setbacks during the production stages. The band had finished recording the music last winter, but ran into some glitches in the spring while mixing the tracks.

RAYNA: We've had a few delays. The guy who was working with us up in Boston, who was going to mix our record, Chad Frederiqué, died in a car accident a couple days before we were supposed to start mixing. A terrible misfortune. So we got a second guy to start doing it and he didn't work out. Then we hired a third guy [Josh Abraham (Orgy)].


NYROCK:
Tell me about the final product. It seems to continue down a rather spooky trail. This time around I hear some eerie keyboards and a string orchestra. What else about it differs from your debut album, Coal Chamber [1997]?

RAYNA:
It differs a lot, but it is also a continuation. It is still definitely Coal Chamber. This record defines our sound. It's still a very dark emotional record. It's still very heavy. Even heavy emotionally verses heavy aggressive in some songs.

NYROCK:
The band has been together for five years now. Hard to believe. How did it all get started?

RAYNA:
We all met in LA. That's where we were living at the time and that's where the band is based. Right now, our drummer Mikey [Cox] lives up in New York. I just got married, so I'm living in Atlanta with my husband. The other guys [vocalist Dez Fafara and guitarist Meegs Rascon] live in Los Angeles.

NYROCK:
How did you meet your husband?

RAYNA:
We met touring. He's in a band too. He's in Sevendust, the drummer, Morgan Rose. So we're in the same boat.

RealAudio Clips...
NYROCK:
The obligatory question: What's it like being the lone female in the band?

RAYNA:
It's cool! I don't really think about it too much actually because I've been in the band for five years now. It just comes natural. It's a part of my life.

NYROCK:
Do you think there's more of an attraction to the band because of you?

RAYNA:
I've heard people say that.


NYROCK:
How's your label Roadrunner treating you?

RAYNA:
They're great. I like them a lot. Being on an indie is more personal. A little more freedom. A little bit more in touch with you. They give you more personal attention whereas with a conglomerate you can't even get a phone call in there to get anything accomplished. A big label, a lot of times they'll take seven bands and throw them up against a wall, and whichever one hits, you know, the other six get dropped. If you're on a small label and you only sell 300,000 or 100,000 copies of your first record, the small label is going to give you another record, another chance to get back out there. A big label is going to drop you and not going to give you anything else. Or they're going to pull you off the road and make you make your second record and are not going to push that first record as much as an indie label would.

NYROCK:
Is there as much pressure for a hit single?

RAYNA:
The big labels have more of the radio connections and can throw a million dollars out their way... But we don't write for the radio... We did do a cover song with this record, "Shock the Monkey." Ozzy is on it too, so it sounds really good. We've shot the video for it with Ozzy too.

NYROCK:
Do you have difficulty with protests at shows or censorship? Sometimes it comes with the territory of heavy metal music.

RAYNA:
No, not at shows. We have had to edit some stuff for radio, but not really that much. Like a word here or a word there. We write about our everyday real-life emotions. We don't write political lyrics – by choice. I don't think we ever have. We're just not that kind of band.

I think it's a little absurd, people who blame [violence] on rock music. It's pretty pathetic. They're just looking for a scapegoat. I think they need to look a little deeper inside.

Coal Chamber’s new release, Chamber Music is due out September 7th. The band is currently on the road headlining a tour with labelmates Slipknot and Machine Head.

August 1999

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